Security industry - apply for a permit

You must apply for permission from the competent authority.

Once you have submitted the application and all documents are complete, the responsible authority will check whether you meet all the requirements.

If you meet all the requirements, you will receive permission.

You may only start working once you have received permission.

For legal entities (e.g. GmbH, corporate companies, AG, registered cooperatives) you only have to fill out the application form for the legal entity itself. You must submit all personal documents for all natural persons authorized to represent you (e.g. identity card). You also need an extract from the central commercial register for the legal entity.

Partnerships (GbR, KG, OHG, PartG, GmbH & Co. KG) are not permitted as such. Therefore, every managing partner needs permission. For each of these people you must submit a completed application form and all personal documents.

In order for you to be granted permission according to the trade regulations, you must

• have the reliability required for commercial operations.
• live in orderly financial circumstances.
• Prove your personal expertise and the expertise of the person entrusted with the management of the company or a branch by successfully passing a specialist examination before the Chamber of Industry and Commerce or an equivalent qualification and
• provide proof of the required liability insurance.

The personal licensing requirements (reliability, orderly financial circumstances, successfully completed skills test) must be met by the tradesperson or the legal representatives of a legal entity. The necessary expertise must also be proven for a person responsible for managing the company or a branch.

To carry out security tasks, you may only employ people (security guards) who have the necessary reliability and who can prove through a certificate from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry that they have been informed about the legal and technical basics necessary for carrying out the business and with them are familiar. In order to carry out certain activities (e.g. guarding asylum reception facilities and guarding large access-protected events, each in a managerial position), instead of proof of the above-mentioned information, proof of a skills test successfully passed before the Chamber of Commerce and Industry is required.

• Copy of identity card or passport with proof of registration, or presentation on site. For legal entities, for all natural persons authorized to represent

• Proof of personal reliability
  • If you live in Germany:
    • Excerpt from the central commercial register for submission to an authority in accordance with Section 150 Paragraph 5 of the Trade Code
    • Certificate of good conduct for presentation to an authority (document type O)
  • If you live abroad: Documents from your home country that prove your personal reliability
• Evidence of the corporate legal form
  • for company headquarters in Germany:
    • For companies registered in a register: extract from the commercial, cooperative or association register
    • otherwise a copy of the articles of association (e.g. in the case of a civil law partnership (GbR))
  • if the company is based abroad: documents from the country of domicile that prove the legal form.
• Proof of orderly financial circumstances, for example:
  • Current certificate in tax matters from the responsible tax office (original to be submitted); if applicable, certificate in tax matters from the municipal tax office
  • Extract from the register of debtors of the central enforcement court
  • Submission of a statement of assets
  • Information from the insolvency court as to whether proceedings have been initiated (so-called negative certificate)
• Proof of personal expertise: Proof of expertise must be provided by the trader and the persons responsible for managing the business or its branch; In the case of legal entities, the legal representatives must have specialist knowledge if they are directly involved in carrying out security tasks or no person responsible for managing the company or a branch has proof of specialist knowledge; in the case of partnerships, the managing partners

• Proof of the conclusion of the required liability insurance

To check the necessary requirements (particularly personal reliability), the responsible body can request further documents and obtain statements from other authorities (e.g. police, state criminal police office, Office for the Protection of the Constitution).

• § 34a paragraph 1 trade regulations (GewO)
• Ordinance on the security industry (Guards Ordinance - BewachV)

If you have not been in Germany or the EU in the last 3 years and therefore your “reliability” cannot be adequately checked, you cannot receive a permit.

Before employing a person, you must register them with the competent authority via the security guard register, or with the persons you wish to entrust with the management of your business or a branch.

If requested by the authorities, those affected must provide the information required to monitor business operations. The authorities are also authorized to enter business premises to carry out inspections and inspections.

The violation of the permit requirement and the violation of an enforceable condition or an enforceable order prohibiting the employment of a person due to unreliability can be punished as administrative offenses with a fine. Violations of obligations related to the employment of persons are also considered administrative offenses.

• Application for security services VG Konz (PDF file)